Our Craft & Workshop

From the very beginning, we have committed ourselves to the art of handmade excellence. Everything we create is shaped by hand, with care, intention, and a deep respect for the craft.

Our workshop sits in the heart of Sussex, in the award-winning English village of Ditchling, and it has been our home since the very beginning, when Pruden and Smith was first established in 1988. Set at the foot of the South Downs, this small village has long been known for artistry, making, and independent thought, and it continues to shape who we are today.

Our jewellery is made to be worn, lived in, and loved. It is not designed for display cabinets, but for real life. Many of the people who work at our benches have spent decades honing their skills, learning how metal behaves, how stones sit, how a piece should feel in the hand.

They blend traditional goldsmithing techniques with modern innovation, creating jewellery that feels beautiful today and endures for generations, not just seasons.

This is what “handmade” truly means to us, not an aesthetic, but a way of working, rooted in knowledge, patience, and human judgement.

If you visit us in Ditchling, you can step inside this world yourself, see jewellery being made, and even join one of our workshop tours.

Craftsmanship Is Not Just a Skill, It’s a Tradition

For us, craftsmanship is more than technique. It is a body of knowledge, built over centuries and passed from hand to hand.

British goldsmithing is rooted in discipline, patience, and an intimate understanding of metal. These skills have been refined across generations of makers, long before modern tools existed, and they remain the foundation of how jewellery is made well.

Our own story traces back to Dunstan Pruden, where these techniques were learned, practised, and preserved. Today, that tradition lives on through Simon Alexander, our Head Goldsmith.

With decades of experience at the bench, Simon brings depth, precision, and an instinctive understanding of metal to every piece we create. His hands know when a curve is right, when a setting is secure, when a piece will last. That knowledge cannot be rushed or replicated. It is earned over time.

At Pruden and Smith, craftsmanship is how we honour the past, and how we shape jewellery that will become part of someone else’s story in the future.

The Language of the Hammer

Many of our designs carry distinctive surface textures, created through a wide range of hammering techniques. From planishing to peening, each hammer leaves a different mark, each strike shaping metal in its own way.

This is how we achieve the character you see in our work. Subtle ripples, rugged surfaces, organic finishes, each piece carries the rhythm of the hand that made it.

Some of the hammers still in use in our workshop once belonged to Dunstan Pruden himself. They are nearly a hundred years old. Every time they strike metal, they continue a lineage of craft that stretches back a century.

The tools carry history. The marks they make carry meaning.

Embracing Modern Technology

We are not stuck in the past.

Alongside traditional bench skills, our workshop embraces modern technology. Laser welders allow for precision repairs and delicate joins. Microscopes help us inspect old gemstones and fine settings. Modern torches and motors give our goldsmiths greater control and consistency.

These tools do not replace craftsmanship, they enhance it. They allow us to work more accurately, more safely, and more creatively, ensuring that heritage skills can continue in a contemporary world.

For us, progress is not about abandoning tradition, it is about supporting it.

Casting & Fully Handmade

There is more than one way to make a piece of jewellery, and each has its place.

Casting allows our CAD team to translate a design, whether from one of our collections or a bespoke idea, into a precise digital model. That model is printed and cast, with molten metal poured into a mould. From there, the piece returns to the bench, where it is filed, shaped, set, and polished by hand.

At the other end of the spectrum are fully handmade pieces, such as those in our Trap collection. These begin as lengths of wire. The gold is hammered into shape, formed into a circle, soldered, refined, set, and finished entirely by hand.

This is an art many jewellers no longer practise. It requires time, confidence, and deep understanding at the bench. Every curve is judged by eye. Every adjustment is felt through the metal.

Whether cast or fully handmade, every piece passes through skilled hands. Every piece is brought to life in our workshop.

Remodelling, Craft with Continuity

Some of the most meaningful pieces we make do not begin as something new.

They arrive as heirlooms, a grandmother’s ring, a necklace worn for decades, gold that already carries a lifetime of memory. Remodelling allows these pieces to continue their story, not by preserving them exactly as they are, but by giving them a new form that can be worn and loved again.

This is a process many jewellers no longer offer. It is slow, specialist, and deeply hands-on.

To truly reuse your existing metal, it must be refined and reformed from its raw state. We begin by melting and cleaning the gold, then pass it through a rolling mill to flatten and shape it into workable stock. From there, a draw bench is used to pull the metal into precise lengths of wire, gradually strengthening it through repeated draws. Only then can it be formed into a new ring, setting, or structure.

It is time-consuming work, and it demands experience at every stage. For many workshops, it is easier to start again with new metal. But we believe something important is lost when that continuity is broken.

We welcome this process because it allows sentimental jewellery to live on. A ring once kept in a drawer becomes part of everyday life again. A family stone moves forward into the next generation. The material changes shape, but the meaning remains.

For many people, this understanding begins the moment they walk into our workshop. Seeing gold being formed, stones being set, and textures taking shape changes how jewellery feels. It becomes personal, grounded, and real. If you’re visiting Ditchling, we’d love to welcome you on a workshop tour.

Remodelling is not about erasing the past. It is about carrying it forward.